Chapter 8
Luna
“When life hands out scraps, make a quilt.”
—Eloisa Hobby
It had taken Luna a hot minute to locate Artie, whom she found peering in the window of the art supply store, Palette, directly across the quad from the stage assembly. As she caught up with her daughter, the rain hit, and they’d ducked inside just as Jeanie sprinted for the shelter of the quilt shop.
They browsed the art shop for a few minutes and Luna, feeling inspired, bought the only general-purpose sketchbook the store carried and a box of drawing pencils. When the rain ebbed, they dashed to the quilting shop and discovered Jeanie sitting on the floor, surrounded by a circle of concerned women.
“Mom!” Luna shoved her bag of art supplies at Artie and sprang to Jeanie’s side, the others scattering to let Luna near her mother. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing, nothing. I just got up too quickly and my blood pressure must have bottomed out. It’s happened before, nothing to fret about.” Jeanie stuck out her hand. “Give me a boost up, sweetheart.”
Luna tugged her mother to her feet and bent to brush lint off her backside. Once Jeanie was righted, Luna picked up her mother’s quilt and the bright yellow flyer on the floor beside it marked Quilting Contest Rules.
“Thank you all so much.” Jeanie pressed her palms together in prayer hands and bobbed her head to the women who’d helped her. “Thank you, thank you.”
Sharon, Nanette, and Isabelle murmured, “You’re welcome,” and the older woman in a blue pinafore rubbed Jeanie’s arm and said, “You’ve got this. I believe in you. May I recommend a lavender bath tonight? It’s very soothing after a long day of traveling.”
“Thank you, yes, that’s a lovely suggestion, Clare,” Jeanie said.
“Vivian keeps lavender at the Nestled Inn. Just ask, and she’ll hook you up,” Clare said.
Luna took Jeanie’s wrist. “C’mon, Mom, let’s head back to the B&B.”
“But aren’t we going to dinner?” Jeanie asked.
Luna couldn’t shake the feeling her mother was hiding something from her. “We can send Artie to pick up something to go. We’ve had a long day and should get to bed early. That lavender bath sounds like a great idea. We’ve got two whole months to explore the island’s offerings.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Jeanie fiddled with her necklace.
“We have sandwiches in the quilting room from Breaking Bread for the meet and greet. I could send some with you,” Clare said.
“That would be so nice.” Luna smiled at the older woman. “Thank you for your kindness.”
Clare crooked a finger at Artie. “Come with me, and I’ll get you fixed up.”
Artie followed Clare to the back of the store, and Luna turned to Jeanie. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, yes. I feel so silly.”
Luna studied her. What was going on? “Do you feel like walking back? We can put Artie on my scooter. Or do we need a golf cart?”
“Yes, a walk will do us good if it’s not raining.”
“The sun is already coming out.” Sharon opened the curtains wider to let in more light.
Artie came back with Clare, a brown paper bakery bag clutched in her hand, her eyes wide. “They have gobs of sandwiches! I got ham and cheese for Gran, turkey club for you, Mom, and two PB&J for me.”
“Thank you again,” Luna said to Clare. “How much do we owe you?”
“Nothing at all.” Clare waved a hand. “The sandwiches are a welcome to Hobby Island for the quilters. You folks enjoy.”
Outside the store, Luna pointed out Harvey to Artie and told her to take the scooter on back to the B&B and they’d catch up with her. It was a ten-minute walk, and she hoped the fresh air would clear their heads.
Luna tucked the flyer into her purse and Jeanie’s quilt under her arm. They followed Artie, who zoomed ahead with their dinner and Luna’s art supplies in the scooter’s basket. The gray clouds had blown away, and as the sun slipped toward the horizon, it cast a dazzling glow over the island.
Jeanie cleared her throat.
Luna waited, sensing her mother wanted to speak. The jacaranda blooms on the ground released a sweet scent beneath their footsteps. The quilt was heavy and made Luna feel lopsided. She repositioned it in front of her, holding the quilt with both hands.
Jeanie sighed.
“What is it?” Luna asked, angling her a sidelong glance.
Her mother had changed from the dress she’d worn on the ferry to a sage-green skirt and white peasant blouse, but she still had on her beloved Birkenstocks.
A hippie child who came of age in the 1970s, Jeanie wore Birkenstocks for most any occasion, owning every style and color the brand made.
Her kind blue eyes had dark circles beneath them, and she had plaited her soft honey-brown hair, which was laced with gray, into battle braids.
She was still quite beautiful at sixty-five.
Luna hoped she’d inherited her mother’s youthful genes.
“There’s something I’ve got to tell you . . .” Jeanie paused. “And you won’t be happy with me.”
Luna exhaled. “Does this have anything to do with you passing out in the quilt store?”
“I didn’t pass out, I just got weak in the knees.” A defensive tone crept into her voice. “But yes.”
“Ooo-kay.” Luna braced herself for what might come next.
“What Sharon said on the ferry is true. That quilt”—she nodded at the quilt in Luna’s arms—“isn’t acceptable for the contest.”
Luna said, “So you’ll sew a new one.”
“I can’t win.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because sewing mastery is only one small part of the contest. Design, thematic vision, and creativity are weighted more in the scoring, and we both know innovation is not my strength.”
Luna figured as much, but she wouldn’t say that. “Well, just do your best. Who knows? The island might give you inspiration.”
“You don’t understand. I must win the grand prize.” Her mother’s tone turned insistent, and she stopped walking. They were standing in front of a Second Empire Victorian B&B painted vivid lime green with white trim named Sweetest of Dreams.
“Are you having financial trouble?” The idea alarmed Luna because she was in no position to help her mother.
She barely had enough to make it through the next two months, and getting a job was at the top of her list.
In fact, she spent the two weeks she and Artie had been in Julep sending out résumés and making contacts.
It was hard when you had no job skills beyond mother, housewife, PTA volunteer, and occasional mural painter.
If this vacation hadn’t been completely free, no way could she and Artie have come along.
“It’s more than that.” Jeanie hiccuped.
Luna transferred the quilt again, moving it to the crook of her left arm and cocking her hip to help support the weight. She met her mother’s gaze, but Jeanie couldn’t hold it. Luna’s stomach sank. When Jeanie got shifty-eyed, Luna worried.
“Just say it,” Luna said. “I can take the truth. What I can’t take are lies and deception.”
“I’ve never lied to you!”
Luna shot her a cold hard stare, but Jeanie refused to look up. “Let me rephrase. I can’t take the lies that you’ve convinced yourself are truths. Don’t give me abstract theory. Give me the details. What’s happened?”
Jeanie wrung her hands, then clasped them and brought them to the center of her chest.
“Mom?” The hairs on Luna’s neck raised, and an icy chill ran through her. She had a terrible feeling about this.
Jeanie took a shuddering breath. The setting sun sent a shaft of light through the tree leaves, dappling her face with shadows and intensifying Luna’s growing dread. “I . . . um . . . last year, I joined an online dating app for people over sixty.”
Icicles tumbled down Luna’s spine.
“It’s called Now or Never.”
“I don’t require that much detail.” Luna shifted the quilt back to her other arm. She didn’t know if the middle of the street was the best place to have this conversation, but she needed information, and she needed it now. “Cut to the chase.”
“It was exciting at first. A whole new world to explore. All these lovely silver foxes.”
Luna held her breath and waited for her mother to continue, dismay mounting with every passing second.
“There was this one man, Rex Rhinehart. In his profile picture, he was drop-dead gorgeous and an architect from some famous firm. Or at least that’s what he claimed.”
Her mind leaped to the worst-case scenario. Luna couldn’t have moved if there’d been an earthquake. Couldn’t speak. Her heart pounded hard and shoved fiery blood over her eardrums. She could barely hear. Sweat broke out all over her body.
“We started texting each other . . .” Jeanie ducked her head, cheeks turning pink, and whispered: “Sexting.”
“Oh, Mom.”
“I know, I know. I’m so embarrassed.” Jeanie covered her face with her palms.
Memories of childhood swept through Luna’s mind as she recalled the times her mother had disappointed her. Not purposefully, but simply because Jeanie had been so codependent with Luna’s father that she couldn’t see outside the bubble of their dysfunctional relationship.
In her own marriage, Luna had overcorrected, desperate to avoid being helplessly attached to any one person, and she kept Herc at arm’s length emotionally, terrified of enmeshment.
Jeanie took a deep breath and hugged herself. “Rex and I corresponded for weeks. I tried to get him to meet me in person—”
“But he always made an excuse not to meet,” Luna guessed.
“Yes.”
“Red flag.”
Jeanie bobbed her head. “It was, but sadly I didn’t see it. He kept telling me he couldn’t wait to meet me in person, and I believed him.”
“You fell for it, hook, line, and sinker,” Luna said.
“I did.” Jeanie went on, detailing what had happened to her. “He texted me morning, noon, and night. He told me how I’d become his world in such a brief time and that it’s a sign from God we were meant to be together. That we were fated, soulmates—”
“I thought Dad was your soulmate.” Luna tightened her lips. For so many years, Mom had used the soulmate excuse for why she tolerated unacceptable behavior from Jack.
“You can have more than one soulmate, Luna.” Jeanie tossed her head, saying it as if soulmates were as much a fact as gravity.
“Okay, so he knew the magic word. What did he do?”
Jeanie winced. “He asked for money. He was in a financial bind with his business. It was a small amount at first, a few hundred dollars, so of course I sent it to him.”
“Mom, no.” Nausea rose in Luna’s stomach.
“He had a good excuse and told me as soon as his finances were squared away, we would live happily ever after.”
Luna let out a long-held breath.
“I was hooked. Locked into the idea if I broke things off with him, I’d be alone for the rest of my life. He asked for more money and then a little more—”
“How. Much. Did. He. Take. From. You?” Luna clutched the damp quilt to her chest. It was hard to breathe, much less speak. The shadows grew longer as the sun sank lower.
“Everything,” Jeanie whispered. “All my savings—”
“Dear heavens, Mother!”
“I know, I know.” Jeanie wailed and wrung her hands. “Believe me, I know, but that’s not all.”
“There’s more?” Luna thought she might vomit.
“He asked me for a hundred thousand dollars. When I told him I didn’t have any money left, he suggested I take out a lien on the house.”
“Please tell me you didn’t do that.”
Soft tears were slipping down her mother’s cheeks and dribbling over her chin. “I’m so sorry, Luna.”
“The text message you got from your bank when we were on the ferry.”
“Yes.”
“Are you in foreclosure?”
“If I don’t come up with a hundred thousand dollars by August 1, I will be.” Jeanie whimpered.
“That’s why you’re so desperate to win the grand prize.”
Jeanie swiped at her tears with both hands. “Yes, but there’s no chance I can win it. Not when creativity and artistic design trump sewing skills.”
“You’ll lose the house if you don’t win this,” Luna said, flashing back to learning she would lose her own house.
Desperation clawed her as loneliness bit down hard on her hopes. Honestly, she was still sorting herself out from it. She moved in with Jeanie because she needed stability for Artie while she figured out her next steps. Now, she didn’t even have that.
“Yes. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. He scammed you.”
“But I was an old fool—”
“You were vulnerable and in pain over losing Dad. Don’t beat yourself up. What’s done is done. We’ll figure this out together.”
Jeanie looked relieved. “So you’ll help me win the quilting contest? I can’t do it without you. You’re the creative one. The artist.”
Luna sighed. What choice did she have?
“Yes, Mom, I’ll help.” Luna handed Jeanie the quilt she carried. “But I need a little space from you right now. Go on back to the B&B and have sandwiches with Artie. I’ll see you later.”
With that, Luna turned and walked back to Crafters’ Corner.